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SALT LAKE CITY — Cinderella had her evil stepmother. Sleeping Beauty had Maleficent. And Princess Tiana, whom Disney introduced in 2009's "The Princess and the Frog," had Dr. Facilier, the Shadow Man capable of calling up the spirits of darkness to do his bidding.
Simeon Hanks portrays Facilier in Disney on Ice's Dare to Dream, currently at Energy Solutions Arena. Hanks said the role has been a different experience than what he is used to, but he couldn't pass up the opportunity when it presented itself.
"It's kind of new to me, just getting the chance to be bad," he said. "I've always wanted to play a villain, and I feel like this role was made for me."
The costume was, at least. Hanks wears a mustache, tuxedo jacket and a two-foot-tall hat with a skull and crossbones affixed to the top. He carries a cane that is "almost like a wand, with a ball on top of it." His dark, dramatic makeup sets the tone for how his character acts on stage.
The costume helps Hanks channel the character, a conflicted man he says perhaps "didn't start out being bad, but maybe turned over to being bad."
"I think he was in over his head," Hanks said. "He made a deal with the spirits, and they're the ones who turned Prince Naveen into a frog."
Why did Naveen need to be turned into a frog in the first, place, though? Hanks said Facilier wanted to teach him a lesson. In the movie, Tiana, a waitress who dreams of owning her own restaurant, kisses frog Naveen and turns into a frog herself. The movie follows Tiana and Naveen as they try to turn back into humans before it is too late.
Facilier takes part in a race of his own, trying to secure the fortune of Tiana's friend Charlotte in order to take control of New Orleans and use the residents' souls as payment to the voodoo spirits he has unleashed.
"I really do enjoy every night just trying to see how evil I can be," Hanks said. "It's fun. Sometimes when I enter for the opening number, I hear people booing me."
He hears screams, too, of children whose favorite characters are more likely to be wearing glass slippers than skulls and crossbones. Some kids are afraid of the villain, but others — mainly little boys, Hanks said — say they like his character the most.
"That always makes me feel really good, hearing things like that," Hanks said.
- Hours it takes to set up a production: 12
- Hours it takes to tear down a production: 5
- Number of performances in the current tour: 363
- Number of cities: 38
- Miles traveled during the current tour: 16,398
- Number of trucks needed to haul equipment: 13
- Countries represented by cast: 7 (U.S., Canada, Finland, U.K., South Africa, Australia, Mexico)
- Female performers: 22
- Male performers: 18
- Yards of fabric used for costumes: Over 1,200
- Number of Swarovski crystal rhinestones: Over 250,000
- Weight of set: 37,340 lbs.
Being the bad guy means he has to look powerful and in control all the time, a challenge if he lets himself get nervous about a big jump. He tells himself to breathe and relax, although sometimes it's easier said than done.
"During the opening number, I'm basically just creeping around the ice, so I get a chance to actually look at the audience," he said. "That can make you nervous, seeing everyone up close like that."
It's not a common feeling for someone who has been skating for 25 years, and for whom ice skating has become second nature. And sometimes he has more of a problem off the ice than on.
"I can skate, but when I get off the ice, I'm one of the clumsiest people you know," Hanks said, laughing. "Just walking down the street, it's crazy. Tripping over curbs and tripping up steps."
When he laces up his skates, though, it's with the confidence that those in the audience will take something from his performance home with them — the lessons the characters, including Facilier, learn the hard way in the film.
"The characters in the show are very relatable, and I think that's why people respond so strongly," Hanks said. "You learn that you have to look past all the material things in the world to find out that there really is true love."
